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This time last year I was preparing to finish my last year of design school. While most days were spent worrying about project deadlines and final presentations, I also remember being clouded by thoughts regarding what I was to do once I was forced to leave this comfy nest called art school. Where will I work? How will I get there? Where do I start?

A year later, now three weeks into my role as Art Director, I thought I’d look back at what I’ve learned since then and see if I can’t share it with the next crop of students. Having just gone into the wild – here are a few tips that worked for me and a few more I didn’t get the chance to try.

DIRECTION

Often times people would say to me “Victoria is so small that all the good design jobs are taken”. The way I see it, the smaller the town the easier it should be to stand out amongst the crowd. So before you decide to pack up and move to that neighbouring metropolis, remember: you have to ability to make a mark in your small town, too. Find out exactly what your dream job is and make it your goal. Stay optimistic and keep focused. The unfortunate reality is that as time passes your competition will slowly drop out of the race. If you manage to outlast you’ll start to move up the ladder.

GET OUT THERE

Don’t sit idle between dropping off resumes. Do something to get your work noticed. Start a design blog and post local content, re-design your school newsletter and offer to maintain it, pitch your designs to companies you admire. Take a chance and don’t be afraid to be shot down. Sure you could get rejected, and at first you probably will – but if you’re lucky you might at least gain a pro’s insight regarding your work. While these ideas might not get you paid, they’re all are great steps towards growing your portfolio with real world experience.

NETWORK

Don’t stress this one. Networking will come naturally, if you’re here reading this blog then you’re already doing it. Because most jobs aren’t advertised, networking can be your best bet to get your foot in the door. Consider a student membership to the Graphic Designers of Canada. Your local chapter has dozens of social events each year. Why not start by volunteering to check coats or take tickets at an event? These events are meant to be fun, so relax. Nobody’s there to interview you, try to have fun and enjoy yourself. Your personality should be on show, not your portfolio.

NAVIGATE

Get to know any potential employers in your area. Navigate your way through the company, introduce yourself to the staff, find out what the mood around the office is like. Now the fun part – don’t just tell potential employers that you’re creative, show them! Go a step further by customizing a package based on what you’ve learned. Put aside the typical resume. Try a website, video or DVD portfolio.

RESOURCES

Now is the perfect time to start seeking out internships, scholarships and awards. Internships are your best bet for work right now, it’s how mostly all designers start.

Check Applied Arts, Communication Arts and Adobe for student awards. They’re a great way to get regional and even worldwide recognition for your work. Another benefit of the GDC is that they’ll do much of the work for you. A student membership gives you access to up-to-date job/internship postings, scholarships and awards info.

Get yourself a website to showcase your work but keep it simple, and remember when it comes to a portfolio it’s always quality over quantity. Be sure to replace old pieces with new ones as your skills progress. And if your web skills aren’t up to snuff yet, there’s plenty of easy-to-use portfolio sites out there. Try Behance , Carbon Made or Cargo Collective.

SOCIAL MEDIA

You’d be surprised what opportunities that might arise from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. There’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to access all three. Each one is different, so learn which to use for particular content. They’re a great way to engage with people, and give them a reason to follow you. Share unique content specific to you: your opinions, your portfolio pieces, and discussions that you’re taking part in.

Thanks for reading, I hope that helps. I’ve included my icon pack for download if you’d like them for personal use. For now you can get to know us @YourCopeland. We love students.

Over the past month, we have profiled 6 remarkable local students here on the blog. (Click on a photo to read the post.)

But it simply isn’t enough to acknowledge great students.

As a business community, we have to support them on an ongoing basis as they get their sea legs in the professional world.

Not just this tremendous group, but students period.

Here’s how we can do that:

Follow them on Twitter.

Connect with them at networking events. Invite them to join you at one.

Read their blog posts, comment on them and share them.

Check out their Linkedin profiles.

Point them in the direction of opportunities you hear of.

Recommend them.

Offer to meet with them to find out how you might be able to help.

Mentor them.

Introduce them to people who could benefit them.

Offer to speak at their schools.

Invite them in to your business as interns.

Most importantly, we need to make this a regular part of how we work. These 6 top students are just the tip of an iceberg flowing out of our schools and into our work force. I could have written dozens of profiles. Who are their advocates in the community if not us?

We are all students at some stage making the transition into the working world.

Although the emphasis of this series has been on Victoria students, we shift our gaze north to the Island’s other university, Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, for the final installment.

In doing so, we encounter an energetic life-force known as Kayodé Wan.

He is not your conventional student.

A graduate of both Babcock University in Nigeria (Mass Communications) and Seneca College in Toronto (Brand Management), he is now pursuing his MBA in Marketing from VIU. He’s worked with distinction at TD Trust Canada and is currently putting in the part-time hours, while he studies, as the social media co-ordinator for Distility, a Toronto-based brand ID and design company.

He is also a regular provider of fascinating and uncensored opinions on Twitter under his @brandnutter alter ego.

He gets brands. He gets social media. So where do the two ultimately meet? If Kayodé has his way, he’ll be using his interest in both to steer consumer package goods for major multi-national companies like P&G, either from within an ad agency or on the client side.